This time one year ago despite the tornados ripping through Fenton, I was excited beyond belief to be marrying my best friend the next day. I already knew that many changes would lie ahead for me, but I never really expected for so many blessings to come our way. Sometimes I still can't believe that God has brought me such a wonderful man who cares so much about me and keeps me well grounded. I may have to brag about him a little bit in this post (and maybe even a little sappy). :-) Here's a reflection on the big stuff that has happened in the past year:
10 days after getting married, I started my last semester at HLG. A week after that, I started my new job at a bank in Hannibal, just scanning in paperwork. Caleb was also continuing working at Walmart and youth pastor at Edgewood Baptist Church. We were living in an apartment in downtown Hannibal, and let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant place to live. Our neighbors smoked all the time, our doors and windows didnt seal up so smoke liked to make its way into our apartment. Our front door had glass panels with a simple dead bolt, which really didnt make me feel safe since all someone had to do was bust out a panel of glass and unlock our door. We had some friendly neighbors, and some not so friendly neighbors. The neighbors on our floor got into a fight at 3 a.m. one morning and it lasted for 45 minutes, and some other neighbors upstairs liked to use some not so kind names for us. Caleb was so good at trying his hardest to make sure that I felt safe. He couldnt be there for me all the time because he always went to work before I had to be at work or school, but one day in particular I was getting a bad vibe on my way to work and I texted Caleb about it. Since he was off work that day, as I was walking out of the building to go home for lunch, Caleb was sitting on the picnic table outside the bank waiting for me to ride home with me and make sure that I felt safe on my way home. It turns out that everything ended up fine. We only lived 3 blocks away from the bank, but this reassured me early on in our marriage that he will always be there for me even when my fears end up being over something that I blow up in my mind to be worse than it actually is.
In April I was given the opportunity to become a relief teller at the bank. Since I had thought that I wanted to go into banking, I was excited about this opportunity to get this experience. This job made for an interesting days because any day I showed up to work I could be sent to any branch to work.
I graduated from HLG in May with my bachelors in finance and accounting. After all of this was past me, we started looking more seriously at moving to the Louisville area for Caleb to go to seminary. We definitely knew it was going to be a step of faith because we were going to have to leave everything we called "normal" behind us. Towards the end of May, we went to Estes Park, Colorado for our delayed honeymoon. While we were there, we got a phone call from Caleb's sister that they had decided to move from New Albany, Indiana around the end of June, which is when we were planning on moving, and wanted to know if we wanted to take their apartment. It was definitely the first step in knowing that this is where the Lord would have us since we werent even going to need to make a trip to look for apartments! Since we had never even seen the apartment, the landlord was even willing to give us a 6 month lease in case we didnt like it.
At the end of June, we both quit our jobs, left our beloved church, packed up, and headed east. Caleb's parents were so gracious to help us move and let us crash with them for a weekend while we were inbetween apartments. We ended up loving the apartment and it was such an upgrade from our old homestead. We have no neighbors, a solid front door, actual closets, washer and dryer hook ups, a shower head that doesn't only have two temperatures (scalding hot or freezing cold) and, a dishwasher, and counter tops that are big enough to fit more than just a dish strainer.
We found a new church that makes us feel so welcomed and we feel like we fit in. I started my job search (which you can read about in older posts) and even on my days when I felt like I would never find a job, Caleb was always there to reassure me that everything would work out and the Lord would provide for us one way or another.
The Lord also blessed me with the opportunity to be a part of the Seminary Wives Institute at Southern. I have been able to meet several other seminary wives and learn more about what it means to be a ministry wife from faculty wives who have been in my situation before.
I started my new job this past week and so far I really like it. I think that I will enjoy my job, but it has been a little hectic the past couple days with figuring out what my job duties are since a lot of people are shifting around jobs and training for a different position. I cant help but feel overwhelmed with blessings that I have a job that can actually support two people so he can focus on school and not have to sacrifice study time because of having to work. I really hope that this is my last first day on the job for a long time since this is my third time this year starting at a new company, and my fifth new position.
And so now here we are at the end of our first year. A lot of people say that the first year is the hardest, and if that is the case, then the rest of our lives together is going to rock. We have really learned how to be patient with each other and how to get along peacefully without even getting into an argument. There hasnt been a day thats gone by where I havent absolutely loved being married to such a wonderful man. Along with my faith in God, he has been my constant throughout a crazy year of starting life over in a new city. We were talking the other day that even though we had a year-long engagement which seemed to last an eternity, it's almost hard to remember what life was like before we were married. Happy first Anniverary Caleb! Thanks for being my Prince Charming :-)
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